


Neighbor's Tales

by theChromiumFail, WoffWoff



Series: Fairytales For Your Local Ninja [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 21:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4496070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theChromiumFail/pseuds/theChromiumFail, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoffWoff/pseuds/WoffWoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>mkay shoutsout to theChromiumFail cause they been sending me their headcanons for their own Naruto fantasy AU and let me put my own two cents in sometimes! so TECHNICALLY it's co-written AND inspired by their work.</p><p>they even spoiled me with a werewolf Kakashi, and gave me an excuse to write my otp. though they aren't very otp in this one. you can barely tell it's Kakashi, really, sorry. also sorry some of the details are a little grossssss but come ON, werewolves! <3</p><p>so this is a little thing cause i'm hype for them to start the series (which I will link here once it's up, so keep an eye out if you want to read it).</p><p>tell me if there are major grammar or spelling mistakes, y'all know i suck ass at this. okay, shutting up now, i hope you guys enjoy it! i reply to comments, i've really enjoyed you guys' feedback in the past! <3</p>
    </blockquote>





	Neighbor's Tales

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theChromiumFail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theChromiumFail/gifts).



> mkay shoutsout to theChromiumFail cause they been sending me their headcanons for their own Naruto fantasy AU and let me put my own two cents in sometimes! so TECHNICALLY it's co-written AND inspired by their work.
> 
> they even spoiled me with a werewolf Kakashi, and gave me an excuse to write my otp. though they aren't very otp in this one. you can barely tell it's Kakashi, really, sorry. also sorry some of the details are a little grossssss but come ON, werewolves! <3
> 
> so this is a little thing cause i'm hype for them to start the series (which I will link here once it's up, so keep an eye out if you want to read it).
> 
> tell me if there are major grammar or spelling mistakes, y'all know i suck ass at this. okay, shutting up now, i hope you guys enjoy it! i reply to comments, i've really enjoyed you guys' feedback in the past! <3

In the dark of night, the trip out of the city had been an uneventful one. Common sense sent people into their homes and into their beds when the sun dipped below the mountains that carved up the horizon. Things like gathering were put on hold for the safety of the morning but Iruka had never been much worried about his own safety. He would excuse his nighttime excursion on the fact that there would be less people out to distract him or pick the good things before he got there.

He felt more than saw when he crossed into the Borders. Years of sharing his home with a young kitsune made him more sensitive than most humans to supernatural auras. The homes around here were quite the trek away from the inner city where humans lived, but you wouldn't be able to tell other worldly beings lived in these places unless you really looked. Small trinkets and statues situated outside doors or under windows, lanterns that glowed with fire that gave off no heat when approached, sparse trees carved into with strange characters that no human could have come up with.

The first time Iruka had made his way through here, it was all a little mystifying. His wonder got the best of him, and his neighbor's tales about the dangerous, hungry, killer beasts that inhabited the areas fell away. Iruka had been a young boy then, and when he returned with cuts and scrapes on his knees he had a hard time explaining that his clumsiness was the cause and not the shy spirits that lived so close to the woods.

It was true he had barely seen any other living thing on his adventure, but now he knew better. The same way the homes here mirrored the homes inhabited by humans, the creatures here made no moves to show themselves off as gruesome boogeymen. There were the few aloof types, even more rare were the aggressive type, but Iruka felt people were exactly the same. To explain it away, Iruka guessed the spirits that lived here, with all their wings, teleportation, and whatever else, probably felt no reason to keep around their towns like humans do.

The homes became few and far between and soon Iruka faced nothing but a large dark wall of trees. Here were the woods, the most likely place the spirits in the Border were likely to be when not at home. Here, they were free to take their true forms-- and their true attitudes --and humans were expected to be very, very worried about their safety.

* * *

 

The moon looked almost swollen. It's light was so bright, that Iruka's surroundings were nearly black, but anywhere the trees dared to break was flooded with a glowing white. Iruka kept to a natural path that was lit, ignoring the tug of one of his neighbor's old tales about demons of darkness that possessed vulnerable travelers.

Eventually, Iruka found the hint he was looking for. Beneath the leaves littering the ground, there were what looked like small shining strings. They were like thin hairs pulled tight across sections of the ground. They were easy to miss, but what kind of teacher would Iruka be if he couldn't even find what he would be teaching about tomorrow? Iruka cleared a small patch of forest floor with his foot, shifting the leaves and large stones until a small circle of dirt remained. He set his lamp down here, shrugged off his small pack, and dropped to his knees. He scanned the woods around him slowly, breathing even slower, before ducking his head to stare at his subject on the ground.

He gently pressed his thumb onto one of the patches of string roots. He listened. Somewhere to his left, he could a faint ringing. He applied more pressure and out the corner of his eye, Iruka caught movement. He almost missed it: to his right, a drooping plant had lifted its bud high into the air, as if coming back to life. The violet petals peeled back to reveal a cluster of orange at the flower's center. Iruka grinned, leaning over to pluck the bud right off its floral pedestal.

The orange middle was in fact string. This particular plant had been used to make the strings for various instruments, designed to keep unwanted forces away. The string inside would grow and grow inside the plant, to great lengths, as long as it wasn't picked or damaged. Summoners were the typical harvesters of these plants until easier methods of acquiring less foreign string were introduced. Iruka reached into his bag for a container to place the bud in. He wondered if he should cut a sample of the roots. Though now the plant's system wasn't active, Iruka could recreate it with a model and explain it to his students--

A sharp, drawling, moan of howl rang out. Iruka flew to his feet, his heart throwing itself against his ribcage, his blood seeming to freeze over, shatter, and rush again in seconds. As silence fell like a blanket around him, Iruka realized he hadn't been able to tell if the howl had been far away...or very close.

Like instructions memorized out of a guide, another of his neighbor's tales came back to him-- and this particular gem sounded unfortunately relative. Travelers making their way under a full moon had heard a wailing, or a howl, and soon were attacked by a beast that was both man and wolf. It was hungry, not for the meat they carried in their packs, but for the traveler's very flesh and bones. There was no ending where the travelers lived.

Another howl brought Iruka back to his very dark present, and the guttural growl that followed it sounded so close, Iruka just had to turn to make sure there wasn't an actual werewolf behind him. There wasn't. But he was sure it was somewhere, it had to be, absolutely no doubts about that.

That unnerving, pregnant silence swooped down again; Iruka didn't move. He didn't say anything. He tried to even limit his breathing. His eyes were granted the most movement, and when they scanned the contrast of the trees against the empty dark, they found something looming feet away. Iruka grit his teeth together to keep quiet.

The creature was huge. Eyes reflecting eerily in the pitch dark, it seemed to have paused in stalking him. Its silhouette was partially obscured by branches and bushes. A rolling growl sent Iruka noiselessly stumbling back out of fear. The sound of twigs snapping in front of him made his stomach churn. The beast was moving towards him. He didn't take his eyes off of it, and it locked its eyes onto him.

It sauntered forward on all fours, large shoulders rolling, massive paws clawing back the dirt. As its face penetrated the moonlight, Iruka saw the gleam of its fangs in all their glory-- and the last meal the beast ate. Blood and pieces of flesh dripped from its parted jaw. The creature's right eye sported an old scar. Its silver coat was clumped together in places where it was hard to tell whether the blood was from a wound or a victim. Barely a foot away, it rose. Its height alone caused Iruka to shrink back, a silent whine rising from his throat. He was quickly overwhelmed by the werewolf's shadow. Now he could see the front paws were much more like hands and that the definition throughout the body truly blended the line where the man and the wolf began.

Iruka could hear the ragged breaths escaping through the werewolf's nostrils and jaws. It just stared at him. Iruka simply couldn't move. He just couldn't think of a single thing to do, his neighbor mentioned nothing about how to scare this beast away, or disinterest it, or--

He screamed and threw his arms up when the beast suddenly lunged at him, sending him falling onto his back. Pressed against the forest floor, Iruka was completely panicking in his head. He shut his eyes tight and pressed the side of his face into the ground, desperate to keep those bloody teeth and dripping jaws away. He could something warm dripping onto his face and tried his hardest to ignore it. A weighty paw at his chest restricted his breathing, and the short gasps he could manage were a feat. He stayed very still, so still. Every breath the werewolf took sounded very much like a countdown in his mind, and his imagination spared him no details in figuring what might or might not be left of him when the monster was done with him.

Iruka didn't know how much time passed before the lethal pressure on his chest lifted, and the heat from the beast's muzzle receded. He still didn't open his eyes. He could hear it snarling too close to him. He flinched when it gave one of its dreadful, haunting howls. It seemed to dispel all other sound from the forest, and when it was over, it was so quiet Iruka could hear every one of his heartbeats against the silence.

He still didn't open his eyes or sit up until he heard the forest giving under the werewolf's feet-- thick snaps of wood, crunches of leaves, the sifting of dirt and rock being pushed aside. He listened to the sound grow farther away, too afraid to even turn his head to watch the creature go. When he was sure the werewolf was gone, Iruka raised a shaking hand to wipe the blood from the side of his face. He released a shuddering breath, then senselessly coughed to steady himself.

His throat felt dry as he gathered his pack and latern. When he crouched to reach for the bud, thinking he shouldn't let his trip be a waste, he caught sight of the blood on his hand again. Who's blood was this? He moved to wipe it on his pants, and froze. There was a bit of blood on the leg of his pants, the start of a small trail leading up to the chest of his shirt. There, he could see tiny flecks and pieces of...something...

He tore the shirt from his body, his breath hitching as he began to panic all over again. His clean hand shook as he ran it through his hair. The images of the beast flashed in his mind, the weight of it, the certainty of his thoughts back then, thinking he was going to die. When he paused in between each fearful memory to think about it, he couldn't believe this happened to him at all. "I..." A small whisper. He needed something stronger. "I have to get home," he forced out with more resolve, enough to give him the drive to get back on his feet. Forget the flower. Part of him didn't want to leave his shirt there, to unnecessarily worry others who might come by, but he really couldn't bring himself to touch it again.

He had to get home.


End file.
